Tourists picnic in a storm shelter to battle Scottish ‘summer’

A GROUP of hardy tourists refused to let Scotland’s wet summer get them down – by erecting a storm shelter so they could enjoy their picnic.

Steve Feltham snapped a group of tourists huddled around a picnic table at Dores Beach on the banks of Loch Ness with a huge, tent-like shelter to protect them from the elements.

The determined travellers were clearly not going to let anything stop them from eating outdoors and decided to sit under the huge orange sheet instead of venturing indoors for their lunch.

The unusual sight was caught on camera

With only their feet visible in the photos, they certainly had no chance of taking in the stunning views around them or spotting the elusive Loch Ness Monster.

The tourists’ experience of a ‘Highland summer’ comes as large parts of Scotland have been hit by a recent cold snap, which has seen strong winds wreak havoc across the country.

Mr Feltham spotted the curious sight yesterday and shared his photographs online with the caption: “How great is this? There’s eight tourists under there enjoying a picnic in the Highland summer! Look at all the feet sticking out the bottom. Never seen that before.”

He later said: “Miscounted, there’s only five. I just walked over from my van and photographed them. They had no idea I was there.

The hardy tourists were determined to eat outdoors

“It’s a Vango air shelter. Dread to think how you keep it inflated though,” he joked. Facebook users were quick to react and call out the visitors for being too “soft” to handle the Scottish summer.

Laura Hulse said: “Surely just go in the pub if you’re that soft?”

Scot Lowe agreed and wrote: “Haha! What a bunch of pussies! That stupid excuse for a shelter is overdoing it!”

And Sarah Denning joked: “Bet they are enjoying the view …”

But Zack Sackinger seemed quite impressed and asked: “Please, does anyone here have an idea where to buy this gadget? It’s genius.”

The stormy summer has seen flash flooding hit parts of Glasgow whilst shocking thunderstorms have caused damage to homes in the north of the country.

An oil rig, carrying 280 tonnes of diesel was blown ashore on the Isle of Lewis earlier this week.

Brutal winds caused the the 17,000-tonne, semi-submersible, ‘Transocean Winner’ rig to run aground on Monday.